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Library  of  the 
University  of  ]North  Carolina 

Endowed  by  the  Dialectic  and  Philan- 
thropic Societies 


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I      THE   NAME      I 


OF 


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I  THIS   CHURCH  I 


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FROM  BISHOP  CHESHIRE'S   I 


CONVENTION     ADDRESS 


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T 

t  1 


1903 


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1  1 

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THE  NAME  OF  THIS  CHURCH. 


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A  question  which  comes  before  this  Convention,  and  which 
is  exciting  much  attention  throughout  the  Church,  is  the 
proposed  change  in  the  name,  the  legal  designation,  of  the 
Church.  The  committee  of  the  General  Convention  to  whom 
it  was  referred,  with  instructions  to  endeavor  to  ascertain  the 
mind  of  the  Church  on  this  subject,  have  asked  us  to  con- 
sider the  question,  and  to  express  ourselves  upon  it. 

There  is  a  difficulty,  and  a  possible  impropriety,  in  any 
formal  determination  by  us,  in  our  diocesan  council,  of  the 
question  thus  raised.  Upon  the  floor  of  the  General  Con- 
vention all  such  matters  must  be  discussed  and  decided.  We 
should  send  our  deputies'  to  the  General  Convention  prepared 
to  act  with  freedom  and  intelligence,  and  not  with  their 
hands  tied  and  their  minds  fettered  by  our  diocesan  deter- 
minations. At  the  same  time  there  is  an  element  of  wisdom 
in  this  effort  to  develop  and  to  ascertain  the  mind  of  the 
Church  throughout  the  country,  for  the  enlightenment  of  the 
members  of  the  General  Convention.  I  think,  therefore, 
that  we  may  profitahly  consider  and  discuss  the  question 
of  the  change  of  name,  but  we' should  do  so,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  this  or  that  action  by  our  Convention, 
but  with  the  frank  confidence  and  affection  of  brethren, 
bringing  each  his  contribution  to  the  subject  for  mutual 
information,  that  coming  thus  to  know  what  is  the  common 
mind  of  the  Church,  Ave  may  be  the  better  prepared  in  the 
end  to'  shape  our  action  for  the  benefit  and  satisfaction  of  all. 

This  is'  by  no  means  a  new  question.  It  was  raised  by 
the  very  adoption  of  the  name  "Protestant  Episcopal"  during 
the  period  of  our  organization  following  the  war  of  the 
American  Revolution.  Before  that  time  the  Church  had 
not  called  itself  "Protestant  Episcopal,"  though  that  name 
did  very  fairly  describe  its  position  upon  some  very  impor- 
tant issues.  And  it  is'  a  matter  of  fact,  which  no  one  will 
dispute,  that  while  that  has  remained  our  legal  designation, 


4  THE   NAME    OF    THIS    CHURCH. 

it  has  not  justified  itself  in  popular  use.  Outside  the  Church 
in  America  we  are  popularly  known  as  "Episcopalians" 
merely ;  inside  the  Church  and  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
Church,  in  the  historical  and  literary  tradition  and  con- 
sciousness of  the  English-speaking  people,  we  are  Church- 
men, members  and  perpetuators  of  the  great  historic  Church 
of  our  race.  This  being  the  case,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
from  time  to  time  voices  should  be  raised  in  advocacy  of 
some  designation  which  should  more  accurately  express  the 
true  character  and  the  Catholic  heritage  of  the  Church  of 
our  fathers. 

Personally  I  have  never  been  very  deeply  interested  in  the 
movement  which  for  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  has  been 
directed  towards  effecting  a  change  in  our  corporate  name. 
It  has  not  seemed  to  me  that  the  Catholicity  of  the  Church 
was  affected  one  way  or  the  other  by  the  legal  designation 
which  we  might  adopt.  "To  he  rather  than  to  seem,"  is  the 
legend  on  our  State  flag,  and  it  may  well  be  adopted  by  us 
as  expressing  the  aspirations  of  our  Church  life.  The 
Church  has  so  much  to  do  in  preaching  the  truth  to  a  care- 
less and  callous'  world  that  it  may  seem  to  some  a  waste  of 
time  and  of  energy  to  be  disputing  over  names. 

Yet  there  is  a  power  in  words,  for  words  not  only  express 
human  convictions ;  they  convey  divine  truth.  We  cannot 
ignore  this  question  now  that  it  is  raised,  and  is  propounded 
to  us,  in  effect,  by  our  highest  legislative  body.  There  is, 
I  fear,  a  Pseudo-Catholic  agitation  which,  under  the  guise 
of  Catholic  teaching,  seeks  to  impose  upon  us  the  very  errors 
and  corruptions  which  we  have  rejected,  and  which  the 
great  body  of  our  Church  people  detest.  It  is  a  fear  of  this 
influence  which  more  than  anything  else  retards  the  move- 
ment in  favor  of  a  more  exact  and  appropriate  designation. 
But  we  should  not  be  afraid  of  a  frank  and  earnest  discus- 
sion of  any  question  of  real  importance ;  and  the  question  of 
a  proper  name  for  the  Church  is  a  question  of  importance. 
Let  us  speak  our  minds  freely  and  with  perfect  charity  to- 
wards one  another.  We  may  differ  in  opinion.  I  thank 
God  that  among  the'  Clergy  and  laity  of  North  Carolina 
there  are  none  who  do  not  desire  to  be  faithful  to  the  Truth, 
as  this  Church,  now  commonly  known  and  legally  designated 


THE    NAME    OE'  THIS    CHURCH. 


as  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  hath  received  the  same. 
If  any  favor  change  of  name,  it  is  not  that  we  may  change 
our  essential  position  and  message,  but  that  we  may  express 
more  clearly  to  the  world  and  to  our  own  people  that  which 
this'  Church  hath  always  received  and  taught. 

I  mate,  therefore,  my  own  small  contribution  to  this  great 
subject,  feeling  it  to  be  my  duty  to  open  my  mind  to  you, 
my  brethren  and  fathers ;  yet  feeling  no  inclination  to  force 
the  minds  of  others;  and  holding  myself  perfectly  free  to 
consider  and  to  decide,  as  in  my  judgment  may  then  seem 
best,  when  the  matter  shall  come  up  in  the  House  of  Bishops. 
And  whatever  may  be  your  feelings  in  the  matter,  I  respect- 
fully suggest  that  this  Convention  take  no  action  which  shall 
hamper  the  freedom  of  discussion  and  of  action  by  those 
honored  presbyters  and  laymen,  whom  we  may  send  as  our 
deputies  to  the  next  General  Convention. 

For  my  own  part  I  think  our  present  legal  title  inappro- 
priate, not  to  use  a  stronger  word.  This  is  the  ancient 
Church  of  our  people,  as  it  has  come  down  to  us  in  America, 
and  as-  it  has  adjusted  itself  to  the  circumstances  of  our 
American  life.  It  delivers  the  message  which  it  has  received 
from  primitive  and  apostolic  ages  by  an  unbroken  ecclesias- 
tical tradition;  and  it  has  always'  thus  presented  itself.  It 
is  not  a  Church  which  draws  its  inspiration  and  its  purpose 
from  the  controversies,  the  noble  contentions,  of  the  Refor- 
mation. That  was  but  an  incident  in  its  history,  one  of  its 
recent  experiences.  Why  should  it  name  itself  after  one 
particular  phase  of  its  latest  period  ? 

And  observe  that  the  Church  of  England  never  called  itself 
a  Protestant  Church.  It  did  call  itself  a  Reformed  Church, 
but  not  Protestant.  And  in  this  connection  we  cannot  but 
recall  the  beautiful  mural  inscription  in  the  chancel  of 
Christ  Church,  Raleigh,  to  the  memory  of  Bishop  Ravens- 
croft,  who  is  there  called  Episcopus  Ecclesiae  Reformatae, 
Bishop  of  the  Reformed  Church.  Luther  was  a  Protestant 
in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word.  He  endeavored  most 
earnestly  to  effect  certain  reforms  in  the  Church  of  which  he 
was  a  priest.  He  failed.  When  fully  convinced  of  their 
failure,  and  hopeless  of  success  by  any  further  efforts,  his  ad- 
herents at  the  Diet  of  Spires  in  1529,  being  overborne  by  the 


6  THE    NAME    OF    THIS    CHURCH. 

Papal  party,  entered  their  solemn  protest  against  evils 
which  they  found  themselves  helpless  to  remedy.  Thus  they 
became  Protestants,  and  built  their  separate  organization, 
and  justified  their  separation,  upon  their  Protest,  upon  their 
inability  to  correct  the  corruptions  and  superstitions  of  the 
Church.  They  and  those  who  occupy  their  position  are  Prot- 
estants. Happily  our  experience  was'  different.  The  Church 
of  England  during  this  period  became  aroused  to  the  same 
errors  in  doctrine  and  corruption  in  morals,  and  to  the  usur- 
pations of  the  Bishop  of  Pome  over  other  churches  and 
nations.  And  having  became  thus  aroused  she  proceeded, 
not  to  protest,  but  to  reform.  She  had  no  occasion  to  pro- 
test. A  protest  is  a  confession  of  weakness.  The  protest 
bears  witness  to-  the  faithfulness:  of  heart  and  spirit  when 
overborne  by  the  power  of  evil.  He  who  can  correct  the  evil 
which  he  sees  does  not  protest.  He  is  otherwise  occupied. 
He  abates  the  evil.  To  call  this  Church  a  Protestant  Church 
is  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word  not  only  a  misnomer ;  it  is 
to  be  ungrateful  to  God  who  saved  us  from  the  necessity  of 
helpless  protest,  and  blessed  the  efforts  of  our  fathers  to 
purge  out  the  evil  from  His  Church,  and  to  preserve  it  in 
its  integrity  and  continuity  for  the  ages  to  come.  Thus  it  is, 
my  brethren,  that  the  word  Protestant  presents  itself  to  my 
mind  as  it  stands  in  the  title  of  the  Church.  Of  course  it 
has  many  other  associations.  It  connotes'  many  other  ideas. 
But  that  is  its  meaning  historically  and  logically.  I  am 
not  ashamed  of  the  word.  In  a  sense  I  honor  it,  and  glory 
in  it.  But  it  is  not  my  family  name.  I  do  not  think  it  a 
proper  designation  for  this  Church. 

But  our  discussion  should  not  be  merely  negative.  Is 
there  a  better  name  ?  We  claim  to  be>,  and  we  are,  the  repre- 
sentatives to  our  people  and  our  country,  of  the  ancient 
Church  before  the  days  of  schisms  and  divisions.  We  should 
be  true  to  our  history,  and  we  should  not,  I  think,  give  any 
cause  of  offence  to  our  brethren  who  put  their  claims'  upon 
distinctly  different  grounds,  if  we  should  call  this,  the 
American  Catholic  Church.  Simply  to  say,  as  some  have 
proposed  that  this  is  "the  Church  in  the  United  States,"  or 
"the  American  Church"  would  be  offensive  to  many  of  our 
Christian  brethren,  as  seeming  to  suggest  an  injurious  infer- 


THE    NAME    OF    THIS    CHURCH.  7 

ence.  To  call  this  Church  the  American  Catholic  Church 
would  simply  be  to  set  forth  what  it  has  always  held  itself 
out  as  being,  namely,  the  representative  in  our  country  and 
for  our  people  of  the  ancient  Church  of  our  race.  It  could 
in  reason  be  offensive  to  none  save  to  that  Church  which  im- 
poses its'  false  and  modern  tenets  as  the  tests  of  Catholicity. 
To  assert  our  true  Catholic  doctrine  and  position  against  the 
Church  of  Rome  will  be  the  most  effective  way  in  which  we 
can  illustrate  the  reality  of  our  opposition  to  her  false  teach- 
ing. ISToi  reformed  communion  can  with  justice  resent  our 
taking  the  name  American  Catholic,  since  none  of  them 
claim  it.. 

Certainly  all  true  churchmen  should  feel  the  appropriate- 
ness of  this  name.  At  every  service  we  confess  our  faith  in 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church.  While  we  do  not  claim  to  be  the 
Holy  Catholic  Church  in  its  entirety,  we  stultify  ourselves 
unless  we  believe,  and  unless'  we  let  the  world  understand 
that  we  believe,  this  Church  to  be  a  living  branch  of  that 
Holy  Catholic  Church  in  which  we  profess  our  faith. 

It  has  been  objected  that  thus  to  limit  the  universal  by 
saying  the  American  Catholic  Church,  is  to  expose  ourselves 
to  the  criticism  directed  by  our  own  divines  against  the 
name  Roman  Catholic.  The  very  simple  and  very  sufficient 
reply  to  this  is  that  so  long  as  the  Roman  Church  con- 
fines herself  to  Rome,  she  may  well  call  herself  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  It  is  only  in  other  countries  that  the  name 
Roman  Catholic,  as  a  name,  becomes  illogical. 

As  illustrating  the  propriety  of  the  word  Catholic  in  the 
name  of  this  Church,  it  is  interesting  to  recall  the  fact  that 
upon  the  organization  of  the  Church  in  the  Confederate 
States  in  1861  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hines,  a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  formerly  an  honored  presbyter  of  the  Diocese,  but 
then  residing  in  Tennessee,  moved  to  substitute  in  the  title 
of  the  Church  the  words  "Reformed  Catholic"  in  place  of 
the  words  "Protestant  Episcopal."  The  motion  did  not  pre- 
vail, but  Bishops  Atkinson,  Otey  and  Green  voted  for  the 
change,  all  of  them,  we  may  say,  North  Carolina  Bishops. 
We  need  not  fear  that  we  shall  go  very  far  wrong  when  we  are 
following  in  their  steps'. 


THE    NAME    OF    THIS    CHUECH. 


Brethren  beloved,- 1  have  shown  you  my  mind  in  this  mat- 
ter. I  am  not  very  greatly  exercised  over  it.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  the  change  will  be  made  at  once.  It  may  never  be 
made  at  all.  We  need  not  wait  to  be  truly  Catholic  until 
we  call  ourselves  by  that  name.  Above  all  we  must  not  be 
so  un-Catholic  in  mind  and  heart  as  to  misjudge  each  other 
and  impute  disloyalty,  in  one  direction  or  the  other,  to  those 
who  differ  with  us.  Let  us  speak  our  mind  in  love  and  with 
mutual  respect  and  forbearance.  Speaking  the  truth  in  love 
shall  help  us'  to  grow  up  into  Him  in  all  things,  who  is  our 
Head,  and  shall  make  our  very  controversies  to  be  but  brighter 
manifestations  of  mutual  charity  and  concord." 

Jos.  Blount  Cheshire, 

Bishop  of  North  Carolina. 


Photomount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

PAT.  JAN  21,1908 


■n 


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